The American Thinker blog has posted this thought provoking article on the college debt debate by Gary Jason. Jason has many interesting ideas, but I am glad to see that he brings up the need for more vocational training in high tech economy:
There is another pertinent point worth noting: there is a shortage of high-skilled trade workers. A recent article in the WSJ points out that the value of American manufacturing output per hour is 30% higher now than a decade ago, and 125% higher than a quarter-century ago. But this proliferation of productivity requires manufacturing workers who are trained in a post-secondary program (typically vocational training delivered at a local community college or trade school), and companies are reporting shortages of such trained personnel.
A big part of the problem lies in the fact that many high-school grads are turning their backs on skilled manufacturing programs in favor of bachelor's degrees of dubious use in finding appropriate work.
Jason notes how the current loan programs have perverse incentives that need to be adjusted so that fewer loans are made for goofy programs of study while developing private industry education alternatives. This is an agenda which conservatives can support while the Left is forced to defend the Blob and its Robber Baron kleptocracy.